To the editor:
Gossip and misinformation are not what I expect to see in the Catholic Herald, but its April 30 edition gave us both in its coverage of the coronavirus.
Author: Kevin Wondrash
Convention postponed until 2021 for women
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| MDCCW officers to be elected this year include, from left: Judy Lyons, president-elect, succeeds Bernadette Schaefer as MDCCW president; Katie Crosby continues as treasurer; and Linda Ripp is a candidate for president-elect. This year’s election will take place virtually as will the installation of officers by Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt, MDCCW spiritual advisor, left. (Jane Lepeska Grinde photo) |
MADISON — “Five years ago, at the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) Convention in Orlando, it became my dream to celebrate the 100th anniversary of NCCW at our diocesan convention in 2020,” said Bernadette Schaefer, Lancaster, who is in her final year as president of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW).
“Now, instead,” she wrote in the MDCCW newsletter, “I have to announce that our convention and celebration have been cancelled.”
With concerns about the health and safety of its members during this pandemic, the MDCCW board voted by email to cancel the annual convention scheduled for June 13 in Cross Plains. The board will meet virtually May 16 to elect officers and conduct other business which is allowed during times of crisis.
Much accomplished
The June convention was to be the 66th annual convention. During those 66 years, area Catholic women have participated in countless activities at their parish, vicariate, and diocesan levels.
Add 34 years to that for the 100 years of organized activities of the NCCW, and the result is countless charitable projects in this country and internationally, said Schaefer.
Three mothers reflect on pregnancy, birth, and faith during pandemic
MADISON — Pregnancy can be both a joyous and stressful time for new mothers. It can come with health hurtles, worries about the future, but usually not to the level of a global pandemic.
Three new and expecting mothers — Tabitha Hansen, Diana Bur, and Kristin Dvorsky — talked about what it is like to be expecting a child during this time and how their faith has been supporting them in their struggles.
Offering it up
Tabitha Hansen, a convert to Catholicism and member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison, had already lost three children to miscarriage and has four living children. Her daughter, Julia, is due to be born in September.
Our Lady of Hope Clinic challenged by pandemic and personnel issues
MADISON — Our Lady of Hope Clinic has been hit by multiple challenges during the last three months.
The pandemic has not only altered how health care is provided but has all but eliminated the availability of volunteer medical assistants at the 11-year-old Odana Rd. clinic on Madison’s west side.
Open for members and uninsured recipients
Dr. Michael Kloess and Dr. Elizabeth Larson continue to serve an average of six uninsured patients daily, while providing enhanced access primary care to members of the clinic.
Helping mothers in need
As Mother’s Day approaches on Sunday, May 10, our thoughts turn to the importance of all mothers in our lives.
Turning to God during the pandemic and maintaining momentum afterwards
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Questions often raised during these weeks of social isolation and pandemic are: What am I learning from this experience? How will my life be different going forward? How will society change as a result?
I have heard from many people who are feeling a greater need for God in their lives. When we confront suffering, fear, loneliness, and privation, we gain greater insight into the essential nature of life’s meaning.
Discovering what really matters
Without frenetic activity to distract us, with less social contact to sustain us, with the threat or reality of sickness, unemployment, and even death staring us in the face, we discover very quickly what really matters.Principal brightens teachers’ spirits with paper cutouts of students
SPRING GREEN — The motto of St. John the Evangelist Catholic School in Spring Green is, “We’re more than a school . . . We’re a family!”
This was evident by the disappointment among St. John’s teachers when they heard the news that schools would not be reopening for the rest of the school year. They all understood the reasoning, but they just miss their students so much.
Overflowing generosity at drive-thru food drive
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| Volunteers at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Madison take donations for the Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison out of the back of a vehicle. (Contributed photo) |
MADISON — Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish (QP) saw an overflow of generosity at its first Drive-Thru Food Drive to benefit the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) on the morning of Sunday, April 19.
“Many of you are asking for ways to help as COVID-19 continues to affect our community on a daily basis, so QP’s Social Action and Community Enrichment Board teamed up with the St. Vincent de Paul conference to find a creative way to help our neighbors in need!” read the Facebook event page that was posted just six days before the event.
“We need your help to feed the hundreds of families that are continuing to suffer by filling the Catholic Multicultural Center’s food pantry!”
High turnout
Thirty-eight individuals expressed interest on Facebook before the event, but the turnout was “more than we were anticipating,” said Annette Fox, director of the parish’s Social Action and Community Enrichment board. “It was awesome. Filled the van plus some!”Zoom Ministry: caring for our youth online
MADISON — “Hey, J. Gregory!” said a teen over the video conferencing platform Zoom. “Don’t you own a pair of scissors?”
Jaymes Gregory Curran, the youth director of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, certainly wouldn’t have envisioned sitting in his parish’s empty youth room talking over Zoom a few months ago.
“I’d heard of Zoom before the pandemic hit,” he said. “But I have never been a fan of FaceTime, Skype, or other similar apps.”
God has entrusted remarkable powers to us
During this challenging pandemic experience, I have been meditating lately on power and the lack of it, the fear of vulnerability and dependence, the need to surrender control and accept what is beyond one’s ability to change.
Since the definition of power is “the capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events,” we have probably all felt an ebbing of power and influence in our lives. The social restrictions, the loss of health or employment, the cancellation of activities and events have all thrust us into this opaque existence of limitation and diminishment.